Oil fell for a second week in a row as weak demand re-emerged as a nagging concern for the market.
Friday saw Brent crude close the week under $US40 for the first time in months and the prices for it and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) lost more than 13% over the past fortnight.
Helping keep the issue at the forefront of traders’ minds was the small but surprise rise in US oil stocks a week ago.
Adding to the pressures was another sign the rebound in the US economy had stalled – US first jobless claim numbers steadied last week at 884,000. But when claims under another program for self-employed are added to the mix, the total rose instead of falling as forecast by economists.
Some 838,916 people filed under this other program called the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Act.
US stocks rose by 2.0 million barrels from the previous week. At 500.4 million barrels, US crude oil inventories are about 14% above the five year average for this time of year, according to the Energy Information Administration.
US production rose by around 300,000 barrels a day to an estimated 10 million barrels and the four-week running average this year of 10.3 million barrels is 12.9% down on a year ago.
West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery edged up by 3 cents, or 0.08%, to settle at $US37.33 a barrel in New York Mercantile Exchange, with prices down 6.1% for the week.
November Brent the global benchmark, fell 23 cents, or 0.6%, to $US39.83 a barrel in Europe, for a weekly loss of 6.6%.
That pushed the two-week price fall for WTI and Brent to more than 13%.
Figures from Baker Hughes on Friday showed a modest decline of 1 in the number of active US rigs drilling for oil to 180.
That signals the big fall in active rig numbers is now over and the current level is rock bottom so far as the fracking sector is concerned.
